Needing help with first food plot.

Here is what I have going on. For the past 5 years we have had either a 20 acre soy bean or corn field across the road from my farm. My deer hunting has got really good the past few years on this farm. Next year they will no longer do beans on this field because they are going to put a subdivision in its place.
On my farm I have a about a 5 acre field back away from all roads and houses that we would like to do a food plot in to keep the deer where they are.
For out first time food plot. What should we grow and how big should we make the plot? We have some equipment to use. I just dont know if he has a seeder drill .
Thanks for the advice.

 

Lol, and here city people are claiming big ag is hurting the environment...sad.

Beans are pretty easy, you'll have to find out what tools you have to work with first.

 

You in the north or south?

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I am in TN. I'm pretty sure he has everything except the seeder drill. I have saw his equipment outside. I just haven't been in the barn to see if he had a drill.

 

I just broadcast soybeans with a spreader or by hand and never had a issue.

 

Would you all do the whole 5 acres

 

Up here in central wi I would plant different crops to satisfy deer at different time of the year, some clover, some soy beans, some winter rye some brassica,s also this way you can concentrate on small area,s of the plot instead of watching deer graze 5 acres away from you, the bigger the plot the harder it is to pinpoint stands

 

Broadcasting beans and getting a decent stand is a little tricky. If you have to broadcast and work them in, get plenty of seed and double the seed rate.
Under the circumstances, I'd probably do the entire five acres. If you don't do it all and the normal 20 isn't planted, then all the deer in the area are going to be hitting your little five acres if you don't fence it off or something. That's going to be a lot of browse on five acres but will concentrate exponentially the less area is planted.

You can always come in at leaf drop and walk through and broadcast some fall blend of greenery in front of your stand for a kill plot so you don't have to hunt the entire five acres.

 

Now if I didn't do beans what would be some plots to grow. It should not be hard to hunt the 5 acres because of the way it lays out. There is just 1 finger of woods that come down to the field. And with that there is just 1 or 2 holes in the fence that they cross. The rest is hay fields. I normally hunt next to that field to catch them going to the 20 acre bean field across the road. So they should keep there normal pattern. I would like to keep them something there year round.

 

I would agree with the master( convey) go all beans if and only if you have other beans around

 

There's almost an infinite amount of things you can plant for food plot groceries. From annuals to perennials and blends of both. Just kind of depends on what strikes your fancy.

 

I would love to do all beans in it since that is what they are use to. I'm just trying to keep my cost down as well.
When would be the best time to do my soil samples? Now or closer to spring?

 

You can do them about anytime, I prefer to pull them when the ground is not frozen and not muddy.

 

I've done a fair amount of broadcast soybean planting for my job in the past. I just ran some numbers, and on average, I was getting about 35% of what I planted that survived.

What I did was work the ground with a field cultivator, broadcast the seed and then ran a drag over the entire thing. What I was doing, was planting the beans like this and then planting corn over the top right away in rows. I cant say for certain the % that didn't survive from being shaded out by the corn right away. A lot of the beans that were less than 3/4" under the soil took in moisture, swelled and rotted.

 

If I was going to mix in corn I would plant corn only on the edges to block sight lines its a great technique.

 

If you are referring to me, I wouldn't recommend what I did for his situation. I was simply referring to why there may have been a stand loss.

 

I'm just saying I have tried it and its a great cover for your walk in

 

So do you think it was the corn or the broadcast searing that was causing the poor percentage of growth?

 

If I had to choose one over the other, I would say the broadcasting. The ones that did emerge grew pretty well in the corn. They were long and stringy compared to straight planted soybeans but they were still 2' tall.

 

Broadcasting beans is tricky at best. They are picky about depth, moisture and soil contact. You need good soil conditions and a decently predictable tool to incorporate them if broadcast. The smaller seeded black soybeans that are a forage type bean, may be far less finicky, I don't know. Can you get a fair stand that's "good enough" for a deer plot....probably so but it's kind of a waste of land resources to have a half a**ed plot with a third or half the tonnage per acre vs what it could have produced. Besides at a double seed rate to get that much of a stand it's not the most efficient way to go either. Deer browse will hurt the beans more, the worse the stand is.

Figure Soybeans have a great germ rate at 90% so you're basically guaranteed only 90% stand if everything is perfect. Cut that by another 40% due to broadcasting (at least) and you're down by 50% stand vs actual seed applied. Which is why it should be doubled. 140,000 seed count bag @50% = 70,000 population. A population of 120,000 is as low as I'd want to let go so two seed units per acre. Hard to get too high of a population. For 5 acres you're looking at 10 bags of seed, depending on what you buy, could be anywhere from $300-$700.